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Topic: Self-Compassion
Universities: University of Alberta, University of Calgary
Researchers: Danae M. Frentz, Tara-Leigh F. McHugh,and Amber D. Mosewich
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Self-compassion and why it matters
The sport and performance world is filled with macho-man narratives about being “tough,” “mentally indestructible,” and so on. However, recent findings in sport and performance psychology are increasingly highlighting the role of self-compassion and flexibility and its relationship to true resilience. Put another way, the conception that one must be hard-nosed and demanding to achieve peak performance isn’t always the case.
What did researchers do?
They first administered the Self-Compassion Scale to 45 women athletes. From there, the pool was further narrowed down and eventually three athletes were selected for in-depth interviews on managing challenges, pressures, and setbacks.
Important notes:
Athletes were not primed with any language about self-compassion; meaning they generated these ideas by themselves.
Athletes selected scored higher than one standard deviation above the mean, meaning that they scored high on self-compassion measures.
What did the researchers find and what themes emerged?
The three athletes shared stories about their struggles with deselection, injuries, and navigating setbacks. Interestingly, the interviewed athletes avoided rumination, catastrophizing, and seeing setbacks and failures as personal reflections of who they were as human beings.
Editoralized line: Performers and athletes really struggle with this—this idea that if they fail, it means something about them as human beings. The classic: “I lost today therefore I am an unworthy human being,”‘ versus “I lost today, that just means I didn’t perform that well in a competition.”
Additionally, the athletes in the interviews:
Made values-based decisions: athletes knew what was important to them and acted in ways that were congruent to those values.
Maintained a multi-faceted identity: athletes did not let their sport define them. Instead they had different facets in their life that they were invested in.
Accepted personal limitations: athletes knew when to work and when to take a break for their bodies. From the authors of the study: “Within a performance-drives culture, athletes often conceal, ignore , or miss the warning signs that their bodies need a break and may instead engage in overtraining in attemps to compensate for for or overcome such limits.”
Limitations
Before we get into how you can learn from and apply this information, it’s important to consider limitations.
Interviewees were all western, women athletes.
This was a qualitative study and only three participants were interviewed.
Just because these athletes navigated challenges and setbacks well, that doesn’t mean all athletes will benefit from this approach.
How you can learn from and apply this information
Sporting and performance culture has a tendency to valorize being “invincible,” “harsh on yourself,” and of athletes wanting to be “mentally indestructible.” Program directors, leadership, and coaches can inadvertently try to encourage these behaviors and approaches with their performers.
These norms can lead to excessive self-criticism, rumination, and a lack of enjoyment and resilience.
This paper shows us, however, that there are other approaches that might be more helpful for athletes to manage setbacks, failures, and disappointments. Namely, having self-compassion is an effective way for performers to navigate performance challenges.
That’s it from us today.
See you next week.
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Reference
Frentz, D. M., McHugh, T.-L. F., & Mosewich, A. D. (2025). Journeying through sport with self-compassion: Athlete narratives of navigating pressure and struggle. Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1123/jsep.2024-0301
